Trivial Pursuits Whilst Rosicky Offers A Lesson In Form And Fitness

Arsenal head into an enforced leave of absence from football this weekend, the FA Cup exit at Sunderland gives them ten days rest, rehabilitation and general skive time until next Wednesday’s match at Goodison Park. It is a stark contrast to the Arsène’s complaint in Milan about fixture scheduling; no worries about a crowded fixture list any more.

In most senses, that cannot be a bad thing. The players will have time to recuperate and shake off any niggles, leaving the manager with a strong squad to choose from. Add into that players returning from injury – Andre Santos completed an hour for the reserves last night – and the picture is looking positive.

It is still a tall order for Arsenal to finish third, relying on their good form to continue combined with the unabating fall from grace of Tottenham. The final league positions are in their hands even though they have seen a ten point gap disappear in a week or so, thirteen since Arsenal’s wretched January. All the Arsenal players can do is keep on winning; be as relentless in their pursuit of third as they were of a winner on Monday night.

That said, Danny Baker summed it all up rather nicely,

Teams in grey resemble ghosts, spirits, phantoms. Those doomed to haunt the field remembering a past vibrant life. No hang on, that’s Spurs.

Chelsea’s progress makes life more interesting. Their ageing squad needs to balance their pursuit of domestic and european cup glory with a Champions League spot. That and the ban that Uefa ought to be handing out to Didier Drogba for his peek-a-boo theatrics. The Alanis Morrisette irony of him wearing a clearly visible “Respect” badge on his sleeve whilst conning his way through the ninety minutes is probably lost on the gnomes of Nyon. As long as Chelsea remain in the competition, Arsenal must pursue third place with gusto to rule out the possibility of finishing fourth and having to play Europa League football. It only takes favourable draws and a fluke for that to happen.

One man who has rediscovered his verve is Tomas Rosicky. Brian Glanville in this month’s World Soccer described his performance against Spurs as “ubiquitous”. I liked that; it captured the energy of his play perfectly. The Czech noted that he had far more money on offer from Chinese and Russian clubs; “tell me that you want those kind of things that money just can’t buy” indeed.

More importantly, Rosicky offered the reason as he understands it, as to his improvement in form,

I am healthy, I play in the centre of the field and have rhythm from regular games. That is all together very important.

When you play once a fortnight, it is difficult. I know I cannot handle all the games of the season, but the rhythm, being involved at least once a week is very important.

History substantiates this school of though; fit and regular football in a position in which he is comfortable has allowed him to flourish at a key time for Arsenal. Assigned to the wings, Rosicky is never happy and rarely effective. Right-footed, he will always drift infield from the left flank causing a narrowness in Arsenal’s play. Now, centrally, he is rolling back the years and ironically – not in an Alanis Morrisette way – having been injured for so long, he is taking advantage of Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey being injured to play in his favoured position, having seen youngsters gain from his own woes.

Were Wilshere fit, it would give the manager an interesting problem. Where to fit the players in. Most likely, I would venture he would play Jack wider on the left to allow him to develop his game. That is based on performances now; as with fitness, form can be fickle. A poor half or bad twist will undo all the good work previously done; all we can hope is that like the rest of the squad, he remains fit and in fine form for the remainder of the season.

It will make squad choices interesting next season, especially if a rumoured midfield target actually signs this Summer. On paper, there would a surfeit of attacking options for the manager to choose from. Injuries will no doubt see to that and render the usual 25 man squad insufficient. But I’m not going to worry about that now, just enjoy the moment.

’til Tomorrow.